Understanding Price Differences by Language in Professional Translation
Have you ever been surprised that translating the same text into different languages can result in very different prices? Why is a translation from English to Japanese more expensive than from English to Spanish?
While it may seem illogical at first glance, the answer lies in the underlying economics and structure of the translation industry. In this article, we’ll explore the key factors that drive pricing in professional translation services.
Índice de contenidos
Index of contents
Index du contenu
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Indice dei contenuti
- Supply and Demand: The Core Pricing Factor
- Where Do Translators Live? The Cost of Living Factor
- Native vs. Non-Native Translators: A Quality vs. Cost Trade-Off
- The Translator Pool: Some Language Pairs Have More Talent
- The Freelancer-Driven Industry: Flexibility and Market Pressures
- Final Thoughts: There Is Logic Behind Translation Pricing
1. Supply and Demand: The Core Pricing Factor
Translation pricing is primarily governed by market economics and thus the law of supply and demand plays a central role. Language pairs with a large number of available translators (like English-Spanish) tend to have lower rates due to greater competition. Less common language pairs (like Chinese-Spanish or Norwegian-Portuguese) tend to be more expensive because fewer qualified professionals are available.
This basic principle explains why prices vary even if the workload or text complexity remains the same.
2. Where Do Translators Live? The Cost of Living Factor
Another major influence on translation rates is the country of residence of the translators. Translators usually live in their native-language countries, where they offer translations into their mother tongue. A translator based in Norway, for instance, needs to earn more to sustain their standard of living than one based in Portugal, a fact that is reflected in their translation fees.
To illustrate this, in 2024, the average annual salary in Norway was around €64,800, compared to about €19,200 in Portugal.
Though there are exceptions, such as native translators living in countries with a lower cost of living (e.g., a British translator in Thailand), these cases are rare and don’t significantly affect market prices.
3. Native vs. Non-Native Translators: A Quality vs. Cost Trade-Off
Professional translation agencies typically adhere to a golden rule: Always translate into the translator’s native language.
Native translators ensure higher linguistic accuracy, cultural relevance and natural flow. However, to lower costs, some agencies or freelance translators break this rule. For example, hiring a Spanish translator with strong English skills who offers reverse translations (Spanish to English). Furthermore, in high-demand pairs such as Chinese to English, using non-native English translators is becoming more common, simply because there aren’t enough native professionals to meet demand.
While this can reduce costs, it often comes at the expense of quality, especially for marketing and culturally sensitive content.
4. The Translator Pool: Some Language Pairs Have More Talent
The number of available translators for each language pair also plays a big role in pricing. In the UK, for example, French, German and Spanish are the most commonly studied foreign languages in translation faculties, whereas Chinese, Russian or Arabic are usually secondary language options, meaning fewer trained professionals are available.
As a result, language combinations involving widely spoken or economically dominant languages (like English) tend to have a larger talent pool—and therefore lower prices—than niche or emerging language pairs.
5. The Freelancer-Driven Industry: Flexibility and Market Pressures
Most professional translations are done by freelance translators, not in-house staff. Even major translation companies rely heavily on a global network of independent professionals.
Because of this:
- Prices fluctuate based on the freelance market for each language pair.
- Agencies must adjust rates per project to reflect real-world translator availability and cost.
Agencies offering flat rates for all languages may achieve high profit margins on low-cost pairs but risk quality or availability issues in more expensive ones.
Final Thoughts: There Is Logic Behind Translation Pricing
While it might seem odd at first that translating into Norwegian can cost twice as much as translating into Portuguese, the reality of global translator distribution, market demand, and cost of living offers a clear explanation.
At AbroadLink Translations, we tailor our pricing to reflect these factors, ensuring a fair balance between cost-efficiency and quality, based on each specific language combination.
Other articles you may be interested in:
Josh Gambin holds a 5-year degree in Biology from the University of Valencia (Spain) and a 4-year degree in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Granada (Spain). He has worked as a freelance translator, in-house translator, desktop publisher and project manager. From 2002, he is a founding member of AbroadLlink and currently works as Marketing and Sales Manager.
Add new comment